about public disgrace
and public ridicule. In short, the poor lady was fairly worn out, and
wished to terminate her harassing career at once by cutting the Gordian
knot. In a word, she proposed coming on to her admirer and, as she
supposed, her victim, and having the satisfaction of giving him his
cooling draughts and arranging his bandages.

If the meeting between the young Duke and Sir Lucius Grafton had been
occasioned by any other cause than the real one, it is difficult to say
what might have been the fate of this proposition. Our own opinion is,
that this work would have been only in one volume; for the requisite
morality would have made out the present one; but, as it was, the
image of Miss Dacre hovered above our hero as his guardian genius. He
despaired of ever obtaining her; but yet he determined not wilfully to
crush all hope. Some great effort must be made to right his position.
Lady Aphrodite must not be deserted: the very thought increased his
fever. He wrote, to gain time; but another billet, in immediate answer,
only painted increased terrors, and described the growing urgency of her
persecuted situation. He was driven into a corner, but even a stag at
bay is awful: what, then, must be a young Duke, the most noble animal in
existence?

Ill as he was, he wrote these lines, not to Lady Aphrodite, but to her
husband:--

'My Dear Grafton,

'You will be surprised at hearing from me. Is it necessary for me to
assure you that my interference on a late occasion was accidental? And
can you, for a moment, maintain that, under the circumstances, I could
have acted in a different manner? I regret the whole business; but most
I regret that we were placed in collision.

'I am ready to cast all memory of it into oblivion; and, as I
unintentionally offended, I indulge the hope that, in this conduct, you
will bear me company.

'Surely, men like us are not to be dissuaded from following our
inclinations by any fear of the opinion of the world. The whole affair
is, at present, a mystery; and I think, with our united fancies,
some explanation may be hit upon which will render the mystery quite
impenetrable, while it professes to offer a satisfactory solution.

'I do not know whether this letter expresses my meaning, for my mind is
somewhat agitated and my head not very clear; but, if you be inclined
to understand it in the right spirit, it is sufficiently lucid. At any
rate, my dear Grafton, I have once more the